Ethan kicked the rat. Connected with the it's face. It released his leg, stumbled back, hissing. Blood ran hot down Ethan's shin, soaking his sock.
The rat charged again.
This time Ethan rolled, purely defensive, and the creature sailed past him. He scrambled to his knees, dagger clutched in a white-knuckle grip, and the rat turned, eyes glowing in the dark.
"Stay back!" His voice cracked. "Just—just stay—"
It didn't care about his pleas. It lunged again, and Ethan did the only thing his panicked brain could manage.
He stabbed forward blindly.
The Rusted Fang caught the rat mid-leap. Pure luck—the blade sank into the soft tissue under its jaw, punching up into its skull.
The creature convulsed, weight carrying it forward, and Ethan fell backward again with the dying rat on top of him.
Hot blood poured over his hands. The rat twitched once, twice, then went still.
Ethan lay there, chest heaving, unable to process what just happened. The creature's corpse was heavy, pressing him into the cold stone. His leg throbbed. His head pounded. His hands were slick with blood.
He'd done it.
He'd actually killed it.
He didn't run. He didn't freeze. He didn't die. That alone felt unreal—like he'd stolen a moment from fate.
The realization hit the same moment golden light flooded his vision.
QUEST COMPLETE: COWARD'S FIRST STEP
+500 WP
COURAGE RANK: F → E
BONUS: First Solo Kill +50 WP
TOTAL WEALTH POINTS: 550
Notifications cascaded across his vision, each one accompanied by a soft chime.
Ethan shoved the rat corpse off him, gasping, and watched the text scroll past.
Five hundred fifty Wealth Points. From one kill. One terrifying, desperate, lucky kill.
If this is what terror pays… how much would I earn if I kept going?
"Holy shit," he breathed. "Holy shit, it's real."
The quest timer for FIRST BREATH had also completed—24:00:00 reached while he was on the bus. He hadn't even noticed. Another hundred points, logged automatically.
WEALTH POINTS: 650
Enough for a real weapon. Enough for potions. Enough for—
His leg throbbed, dragging him back to reality.
Ethan looked down. The rat's bite had torn through denim and skin, blood still welling from puncture wounds. Not deep enough to hit anything vital, but it hurt like hell.
Need to get out. Need to treat this.
He rolled onto his hands and knees, using the wall for support as he stood. His leg complained but held weight.
The rat's corpse lay at his feet, already starting to dissolve, F-grade monsters didn't leave much behind. Just essence, breaking down into particles of light.
And cores.
Ethan knelt, gritting his teeth against the pain, and searched the dissolving remains. His fingers brushed something solid—a small stone, warm to the touch, glowing faintly green.
RAT ESSENCE CORE (F-GRADE)
Value: $10
Ten dollars. Not much. But combined with the WP, he'd just earned more in five minutes than his entire last week of failed party raids.
He pocketed the core and limped toward the portal shimmer. His leg left a blood trail on the stone. The bite would need cleaning, antibiotics probably, but—
I did it.
The thought repeated, disbelieving. He'd entered a portal alone. Killed a monster. Earned Wealth Points. The system actually worked.
Ethan stumbled through the portal exit, reality twisting again, and suddenly he was back in the drizzle and grey morning light of the Crater District.
The clerk's trailer sat fifty yards away. Other hunters were still milling around, waiting for parties or talking shop.
He limped past them, head down, trying not to draw attention. His leg throbbed with each step. Blood soaked through his jeans, but no one looked twice. Injured E-ranks were common enough to be invisible.
The bus stop was a block away. Ethan collapsed onto the bench, leg stretched out, and finally let himself breathe.
WEALTH POINTS: 650
The notification still hovered in his vision. He opened the shop, scrolling through options with shaking hands.
Basic Health Potion — 50 WP
He selected it. Confirmed purchase. Light flashed, and suddenly a small glass vial materialized in his hand—red liquid inside, warm against his palm.
Ethan stared at it. Solid. Real. Impossible.
"How—?"
No one around him reacted. The vial was just... there. Like it had always been there.
Pulled from where? Another dimension? Created from nothing?
Questions for later. Right now, his leg was bleeding.
Ethan uncorked the vial, it smelled like copper and something medicinal—and drank it in one swallow. The taste was awful, metallic and bitter, coating his tongue.
Then warmth spread through his chest, down his injured leg, and the pain stopped.
He yanked up his jeans. The bite wounds were closing, flesh knitting together in real-time, until only dried blood remained. No scars. No pain. Just clean skin.
"Jesus." Ethan touched the spot where teeth had been embedded thirty seconds ago.
Nothing. Like it never happened.
Fifty Wealth Points had just done what a hospital trip and three hundred dollars in medical bills would have accomplished.
The system wasn't just real. It was better than real.
The system buzzed. New notification.
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE
BUILDING COURAGE
Clear Conditions: Solo clear 5 F-grade portals
Reward: 2,000 WP, Shop Level 2 unlock
Time Limit: 7 days
Five portals. Seven days. He'd just barely survived one.
But the reward—two thousand points. Shop Level 2. Whatever that meant.
Ethan looked back at the Crater District, at the portals shimmering in the rain. Then at his hands, clean now except for dried blood. At the quest in his vision, daring him forward.
Courage or death.
He'd chosen courage once. Somehow survived it. The next logical step was to choose it again.
And again. And again.
Until either he became something other than a coward, or the portals killed him.
Honestly, both sound better than yesterday.
The bus pulled up, brakes squealing. Ethan stood, testing his leg. Perfect. No limp. No pain.
He boarded, swiped his card, and found a seat in the back. Through the rain-streaked window, the portals grew smaller as the bus pulled away.
But they'd still be there tomorrow.
And so would he.